Tuesday the 6th

Forget the Circus! The SG Ride is in Town!

    Decent sized crowd out for the ride tonight. The Training series up at the 'Rent started tonight so that no doubt lured a few riders from up north. It was not cool to see Little T get hit with a flat shortly after turning onto Whitney Ave. He would fix it and back track but wouldn't get back up to the group until a little ways during the way home. The ride started out slowly once into the backroads and it stayed somewhat neutral going thru the crap road section. Chris C was amoung the first to get things going. His second surge after the corner onto South Brooksvale was answered at first, allowing a gap to open up on the way to Mountain Rd. The Sernyak and Jacinto (who were all over the ride tonight, riding like 4 guys not 2) started out to close the gap along with Ben Bruce (we think) and a couple of others. The chase became a lead group of about 5 when Guido got involved. It was great to see Guido back on the ride tonight, like he never skipped a beat. Anyway, when the peleton realized that the break was moving up the road, everyone went into full on chase. It was single-file spread-out for 2 football fields as the ride came up on Moutnain Rd. It re-collected but no one really pushed the pace after that so it gave everyone a chance to recollect.

     The headwind really started to bite after the initial risers on Mountain. Hunter P was allowed to roll up the front, taking along the Gibertoni. Those 2 worked up a gap on the second set of risers and nearly kept it all the way to the light. Behind, the peleton was not really killing it into the wind and the gap yoyo'd. Once Guido started to charge across the gap, everyone started to ride hard. Guido, Todd H and Nuemotion made their up to the leading 2 but the field was close behind and the light was red from a distance, slowing the front down and giving the rest a chance to catch back on.

The light actually turned green at the last moment, letting everyone ride thru. Hacker jumped up and thru the section onto Moss Farms. Chris C and Hunter P were with him as well. That trio wasn't given as much space though and there were enough chasers to keep it together for the start of Moss Farms. Halfway thru that section, Joe K rolled off the front, despite the headwind and a reasonable tempo. His gap kept going up all the way to the downhill leading into the corner. Chris C had jumped out in pusiut but was stuck in between. Joe K would go thru the chicane with about a 40 meter lead and he kept on hammering away at it into the climb up to Marion. Chris C was also still going hard and was the first to reach Joe right after the corner. Those 2, with a small gap, went to work to extend it as there were Cheshire riders playing a bit of defense in the pack. Joe K and Chris C kept the break going nearly to the I84 overpass. Hacker was the one that went balls deep to bring them back. Mike McG and Hunter P were there with him and that meant that no one behind was going to let them roll away.

     Once it was all back together, Hunter P countered and had a gap going to the light. It was red tho, giving everyone a chance to collect themselves. Once onto crap road section#2 (aka Mount Vernon), Guido was the one primarily responsible for getting it going again. College St riders also, along with Mike McG and the new rider with the Dux helmet. No real action on Mount Vernon this week as the headwind was really tamping down the aggressive riding. Towards the end, Hacker was spied moving up and there was some strong pulling from Chris C, The Gibertoni and Nuemotion.

Turning onto Welch, it was Chris C, Mike McG, Joe K, and Hunter P up front. Mike put in a good pull to come up to the base of the climb, leaving Chris C in a good spot to jump. Jacinto and Hunter P went straight with them and Hacker also joined them after the corner. Those 4 would quickly start to pull away with the help of the tailwind. Chris C did pulled for a while. Then Jacinto took over at the very front. Chris was the first to jump for the sprint but Hunter P quickly went around with Hacker on his 6. Hunter P narrowly held on for the long drag race to the mailbox.
    On the backside, a group of 6 or 7 came together due to the big gaps from the climb. Red lights stopped their progress though. That led to an all together ride all the back to the light on 322. After the light, Christian high-cadence Duncan was allowed to roll off the front. Guido was the next to go and he took along Hunter P. Up front, C.D. was building a gap despite the chase but traffic at the corner of West Johnson slowed him down. Guido and Hunter P kept on it though and those 2 stayed away past the false flat on Peck. Behind, the chase had split off a group of 5 riders (Mike McG, Chris C, Nuemotion, The Sernyak, Hacker, maybe 1 more). That group rolled up to Hunter P and Guido, making it a strong lead group riding away. A turning car at the intersection slowed the lead group to a near stop, letting the peleton catch back up. Hacker and Chris C kept on it though but they couldn't break free on the hill with everyone cruising thanks to the push in the back.

Coming up to the Stop n Sprint, another red light slowed the pace but Guido fired up the engine right after, taking along just Jacinto and Neumotion. Behind, the chase started up brielfy but it was soon evident that the front 3 would get it. Guido pulled and then pulled off, leaving Nuomtion to start the sprint out. Jacinto clung to the wheel for a while but then killed the engines, and Nuemotion salied on to take the sprint.

     The ride back into Hamden was started off with Hacker trying to sneak off the front but there was enough guys to cover the gaps. Green lights thru town made it nice and quick and the ride back was equally fast. For the Sit n Sprint, Nuomtion grabbed it, making it 2 on the night.

Great ride everyone!